Savannah Rush (Yellow/Green)

Decks
#1

Hello guys!

Starting thoughts
I’m playing Faeria since the FTP release, and I really love this game. I’ve almost completed all of the Solo Content, opened some Legendaries and Epic cards and I’ve had some Pandora runs as well, so I started to get the core of this game. Now I try to build a competitive deck so I can go for Ranked Games. I was always fond of rush strategies in card games or RTS games, but with a little support so I could sustain the aggro. I’m sorry if there was a deck similar to mine, I wanted to somewhat build my own deck, so I haven’t checked if I’m unintentionally copying someone’s idea. (Of course I was searching around for decks on forums, but haven’t seen something like this.)

_Deck lis_t
(faeriadecks.com list)

Creatures:
Iona, Beloved by all x1
Oradrim Monk x2
Oradrim Templar x3
Air Elemental x2
Dune Drake x3
Khalim’s Skyguard x2

Tiki Caretaker x3
Wood Elemental x2
Tethra, Soul of the Wild x1

Sharra, Dragonslayer x1

Events:
Soul Pact x2
Soul Drain x3
Last Nightmare x2

Elderwood Embrace x3

Strategy
The deck mainly focuses on rushing the opponent with yellow vanguards like Dune Drake, Air Elemental, etc. (you know the drill), but making a backup line of forests near to the enemy’s wells, so the somewhat squishy yellow creatures can survive a little longer.

Iona is for constant Faeria farming of course, but saved my life a few times with that 2 damage. The main attackers are the rest of the yellow creatures (Dune Drake, Air Elemental, Khalim’s Skyguard, Oradrim Monk and Oradrim Templar). The Tiki Caretaker is for buffing the foremost creature, (or the one with the best position) and collecting Faeria from the enemy’s well. The Wood Elemental is accelerating the buffs with one turn by creating that one extra forest. Tethra buffs and snowballs the game further if played correctly. Sharra… well, for the first time I only put her in the deck, because I had her. but later on, (mainly against green decks) she became useful. Off to the events, Soul Pact gives that early Faeria we need so the green support line can be built up faster, Soul Drain and Last Nightmare are the only nukes of the deck and Elderwood Embrace is just too op (seriously).

I always mulligan for some early attacker (Dune Drake, Air Elemental) and a green buff (Tiki Caretaker, Elderwood Embrace). Early game, as I’ve said before, focus on attacking, and as soon as the enemy brings out their nasty creatures to stop your cute Drakes and Elementals, start building the green buffs in the middle-game. If the deck works, there won’t be a late-game.

The Legendaries are of course optional, I believe the deck is working without them as well.

Final thoughts
I would really like to hear some opinions about this deck, and I beg for suggestions, since I’m quite the newbie, and I have much to learn. I enjoyed playing with this deck (not just no-brain rushing), and playing competitively while enjoying is a huge factor in a game for me. Up until now, I’ve played 10 ranked games with it, and have won 7 of them. Of course it’s just the beginning of the ranked ladder, and again, I would be glad if I could hear some advices.

Thank you for reading,
Have a nice day!

#2

Alright, since no one replied yet, I will start to rip this apart :imp:

Now seriously, your deck got no gameplan. You play aggro on one side and slow pump on the other. The problem is, this doesn’t help your deck at all, as now you have a slow rush with less pressure.

I did the same thing (but without the haste creatures) with my starting cards and just switched to full aggro (still without haste) once I had the needed cards, as it’s the way better deck.

You got to ask yourself why you play and need THIS card and then do this for every card in the deck.
Do you really want to pump a Monk for a total cost of 6 mana to get a 4/5 creature? Most creatures Y has don’t fit well with pump spells, as you could just play big creatures instead, saving space for removal.

Next thing is, you say you want to be aggressive and play Dune Drake etc… How do you keep the pressure if you have to cast a new creature and a pump spell? What if you don’t have a creature, but pump only in your hand? Seems that you need to control 1-2 wells for this which again would take out the pressure.

All this is the reason why I said your deck got no gameplan, which your deck should have to be effective.

You could also come from the other side and ask yourself, why is Y-rush as good as it is and why does no one add green to it? You’ll get the same results.

Hope that helps in one way or another.

#3

Sorry to tell you this, but what H8Man said is pretty true :confounded: . It might work against slow ramp decks that I believe you will face early on, but you’ll never be competitive with this deck. Why ? Because there are “rushiers” rushes, more stable than yours (what if you don’t get your early threats ? can you really get back the advantage ?), and those that don’t play rush will not let you go with your game plan.(they will kill your creatures before you buff them, won’t let you harvest that easily from their wells…). I’m not saying you’ll loose all your games, of course, but I doubt you’ll be able to go competitive against the current decks in the meta.

But, hey ! You have 10 ranked games under your belt, you’ve got time to worry about that ! For the moment, just enjoy :wink:

#4

Thank you very much for your replies, I really appreciate sensible criticism about my stuff. The reason I tried this deck was that with the standard Yellow Rush I felt like I’m playing a 90% luck-based game (like Hearthstone :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:). If the enemy had the right hand, he could clear my creatures and the game would snowball into his favor really hard. I would like to ask you, how do you counter this with rush strategies? If I throw the cursed green cards into oblivion, which cards would you suggest for a consistent (maybe not only yellow) rush deck?

Again, I thank you for your replies,
And I thank you in advance for the next ones. :grinning:

#5

Well, you’re right about one sad thing : a rush mirror will often (always ?) rely on pure luck, as you’ll both draw 1/5 of your decks before the game is decided (sometimes more, but mirror rush is pretty much up to the one who can get early advantage). However, against another deck, the match will last longer (unless one player has the perfect start, but that applies not only to rush …) and will not rely only on luck (at least, at high level games).

As for rush lists, well … I guess it’s pretty easy to find consistent Yellow, Red or Green rushes (or to make them yourself, they pretty much build themselves, then you just have to tune them a bit after playing a few games).
That’s it for monocolor (Blue rush can be playable with the new Prophet of Tides, but won’t be as consistent/fast as the others and will generally be a weaker version of other rushes). As for dual color, the only combo I’ve ever seen (once) in rush is RY, in a Red Angry style, with yellow creatures mixed in, and some burn. That was quite a while ago, not sure it would still work …

Anyway, there’s a reason why rush is monocolor : when playing rush, you spend the first turn (even second as well sometimes) playing neutral lands to get to opponent. That delays of course what colored creatures you can play. By adding a second color, that delays even more the creatures/spells of the second color. If you want to go this path, be aware that your deck might not be consistent, and you should not have more than 2 land requirement in a color (which might already be too much, though).

#6

Yellow rush actually requires a decent amount of skill, especially if you use Flash Winds. You need to really think what combination of cards does the most damage and is the hardest for your opponent to counter. Early card draw is important too, which does add a significant luck element.

The other viable rush decks are simpler to play. Red rush basically just requires you to get a good land spot, then spam creatures and hope your opponent can’t answer them.

Green rush is the same, except land placement isn’t quite as important, Ruunin’s Shrine and Faeria Tree add a bit more strategy and the Ruunin’s Messenger’s draws makes it a bit more random.

Blue rush is quite complicated, but it’s not viable right now. There aren’t enough fitting cards for it to work often.

There aren’t any really good dual color rush decks. Red yellow angry decks are the closest, but they only really work in Pandora. In constructed, the extra lands you need to create slow you down so much that your opponent will most likely outpace you.

#7

Thank you again for the replies. Yes, I was afraid that dual colour rush wouldn’t work out on higher levels, thanks for clarifying that. On the other hand, I’d like to share my Yellow Rush deck, and ask for suggestions what cards to keep and what to change for a better one, since I believe it’s more effective to ask for help from other people as well, and not only tuning it myself.

Decklist:
Flash Wind x1
Soul Pact x3
Windborne x3
Soul Drain x3
Oradrim Templar x3
Golden Aviary x2
Oradrim Monk x2
Windborne Emissary x2
Air Elemental x3
Dune Drake x3
Khalim’s Skyguard x3
Last Nightmare x2

This deck worked well, but as I’ve mentioned before, it felt like I’m playing some slot machine at drawing the first hand. Any comment is appreciated by me.

Have a nice day!

#8

Some Flying rush … pretty unusual :wink:

You don’t have Prayers or Khalim ? they would go pretty well with this, maybe instead of some Soul Pacts (3 of them is pretty much)

Also, it seems that you’re dependent on Aviary to win. the problem of a Flying rush is that Flying is pretty much wasted, except for Aviary. Flying makes great harvesters, and mobile threats that enable you to build your lands next to your orb. But rush works in the opposite way : discard the active harvesting, and build your lands towards your opponent’s orb. Flying also takes stats from your creatures, which means you’re loosing value. To me, it seems the only benefit you gain from that is Aviary, but maybe you play your deck in a different way than what I imagine ?

As a side note, I’m afraid you’ll once again fall behind other rushes, depending on both starting hands of course ! :slight_smile:

#9

Thank you Foxclear, for constantly helping me!

I have one Prayers, but I don’t have Khalim yet :disappointed:. I tried out Prayers and it really fits in. You’re right, this deck depends on Aviary, but if I can set up the rush with Drake (Desertline Bling), or with Elemental, then the enemy (in most of the cases) is too busy clearing them, and I can set up my Aviary as well. Then I usually look for positioning my Monks, Emissaries and Skyguards. I chose flying, because it gives a felxibility that I feel fun playing. Against other rushes, it’s a slot machine again, but because the enemy doesn’t pay attention on the Diamond Defense land placement, flying creatures can charge forward and occupy the places next to the enemy’s Orb. In favorable situations of course.

Do you think Khalim’s Follower and Wind Soldier would help this deck? I mean charging in with some Flying, and quickly place a land next to the enemy’s well. I’d need to run 3 (or at least 2) Flash Winds for that of course.

#10

Wind Soldiers in rush are playable, but I feel they’re better in combination with Death Walkers, so that you can use them to face, as well as a removal tool. As for Followers, well, I’m not sure that you desperately need a good spot, unlike ordinary Y rushes, as your offensive is more mobile, but maybe they could fit well … Best is to try and see :smiley: